An Unlikely Date
by Brockster550
Summary: An AU sixth year where Harry asks Astoria Greengrass to Professor Slughorn's Christmas party. What could possibly happen between Harry and Astoria? Read on to find out!
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns the Harry Potter series. I just own this fanfic. No copyright intended!_

 **Author's note 1: Another Harry Potter story where Harry is paired with Astoria. This story takes place in Harry's sixth year, around the time of Professor Slughorn's Christmas Party. Mostly AU! Amelia will also still be alive. Astoria will be a fifth year, same year as Ginny.** **Bad Ginny and neutral Dumbledore, but no bashing. Good Snape. Rated T for now, may go up depending on the circumstances.**

An Unlikely Date

fanfic by Brockster550

 **Chapter One**

Harry Potter was a sixth year Gryffindor student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft And Wizardry. It was 4:00 PM on Saturday, December 14th and at the moment, Harry was both angry and paranoid. His best female friend, Hermione Granger, warned him that a fourth year Gryffindor, Romilda Vane, was planning to sneak Harry a love potion, so he would ask her to be his date for the upcoming Slug Club Christmas Party. Harry thanked Hermione for the heads up and, in return, he asked her to be his date for the Slug Club Christmas Party. Hermione politely declined, stating that she would be going with someone else. Then Harry wandered around the school grounds, looking for Luna Lovegood (a fifth year Ravenclaw student with dirty-blonde hair and pale-silvery eyes). Harry spent the next fifteen to twenty minutes looking for her, with the plan to ask her to be his date. But somehow, Luna wasn't anywhere to be found. Harry realized that Luna was a sneaky and slippery one, she always seemed to be in hiding places, where other students were least likely to look, that was if anybody tried to look for Luna. But she always seemed to turn up when it was least expected, so Harry had little choice but to give up.

Harry didn't have any idea who would want to be his date. Besides Romilda, who Harry overheard was planning an even more mischievous scheme to get 'The Chosen One' to notice her, Ginny Weasley was also out of the picture because for one, she was already dating Dean Thomas, Harry's fellow sixth year Gryffindor, and Harry had a sneaky suspicion that she was only 'dating' Dean to make him jealous. Ginny was too delusional to even acknowledge that Harry wouldn't think of asking her out. For two, Ginny was Ron's sister, and trying to flirt with her would be like trying to flirt with his own sister, which would make the whole thing awkward and put his friendship with her brothers (Ron especially) in jeopardy, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley have come to see Harry as an honourary son. For three, Ginny only wanted Harry for his fame, rather than want Harry as a person. And four, her 'dating' Dean to make Harry jealous also seemed to imply that Ginny would try to toy with any boy she could, just so Harry would finally notice her, and that made her just as bad, if not worse, than Romilda. Luna also wasn't an option, reluctantly, since she turned up in the least expected moments. Hermione mentioned that she was going with somebody else, but Harry had no idea who it was, so she also wasn't an option.

Harry was so busy thinking of other girls who'd like to be his date for the Christmas Party that he didn't notice a blonde haired girl jog by until they bumped into each other, which snapped Harry back to reality, and the girl stumbled and fell on her bum. Harry looked down at the girl who had bumped into him, she had shoulder-length blonde hair, but Harry naturally got all tense when he saw that she had green trimmings on her school robes, which told him that she was a Slytherin. When the two made eye contact, Harry saw the most beautiful, bright-green eyes he had ever seen, and this Slytherin girl _was_ pretty, even prettier than Pansy Parkinson (who was a Slytherin in Harry's year). Pansy did seem to get prettier over the years, but Harry didn't like her arrogant behaviour, which was similar to Draco Malfoy's (who had been Harry's arch nemesis ever since their first meeting, which intensified after their second meeting, which happened on the Hogwarts Express). Despite this girl sitting on the ground before him being a Slytherin, Harry decided to be polite.

"Are... are you... alright?" Harry asked the girl.

"Yes," she said, smiling at Harry. "Thank you for asking, Harry!"

Harry was stunned, this Slytherin girl smiled at him and was also polite to him. She even called him by his first name, rather than by his surname. This was also some proof that there were some decent Slytherins out there, Professor Slughorn being another example (having admitted to Harry that his mother, Lily was one of Slughorn's favourite students).

"Do you need some help up onto your feet?" asked Harry, lowering a hand at the Slytherin girl.

"Sure!" she said. "Thank you again!"

The girl grabbed a hold of Harry's hand, then Harry pulled her up onto her feet.

"I'm sorry for bumping into you," Harry apologized. "I was lost in my thoughts!"

"Same here." said the girl, then she held a hand out. "I'm Astoria, Astoria Greengrass!"

"Harry, Harry Potter," said Harry as he shook hands with Astoria. "Nice to meet you!"

"I often go by Tori," said Astoria. "It's easier that way."

"Okay." said Harry. Then curiosity got to him. "Are you Daphne's sister?"

"Yes," stated Tori. "Contrary to rumours, she's pretty nice. She only has that Ice Queen glare to keep unwanted attention from some boys at bay."

At that moment, Harry and Tori heard an all-too-familiar voice coming from down the hall, the voice they knew belonged to Draco Malfoy. Tori gulped as she widened her eyes in sheer horror and ducked behind a nearby statue, making sure she was well hidden. Harry became suspicious because at just that moment, Draco spotted Harry and approached the raven-haired boy.

"Alright, Potter," Draco began demanding. "Where is she?"

"Who?" asked Harry.

"Astoria Greengrass, that's who!" snapped Draco. "Now where'd she go?"

"She might be outside," said Harry, playing dumb by shrugging his shoulders. "Rumour has it that she has been known to hang around outside the front gate."

Draco believed the fib and walked away. Tori stayed hidden for a few minutes, just to make sure the arrogant ponce wouldn't return to that same spot. Once she felt certain of it, Tori emerged from her hiding spot.

"Thank you, Harry," said Tori in a grateful tone of voice. "The ferret believes that I'm rightfully his. No matter how many times I send hexes his way to teach him a lesson, he just doesn't want to learn."

"Why does he think that you're his girl?" asked Harry.

"His dad drew up a marriage contract during the Christmas holidays, shortly after the Yule Ball," Tori explained, with distaste in her voice. "To where I would have marry Malfoy Sr's idiotic son. And Malfoy Sr threatened my dad into agreeing with it."

Harry shuddered at the thought of being married to Draco. The arrogant moron could do anything, and it wasn't something Harry wanted to imagine.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" asked Harry.

"That I'm not too sure of," said Tori downheartedly. "That marriage contract will go into effect on the ferret's eighteenth birthday. Well, I best head back to the Slytherin common room. See ya!"

So Tori began walking away with her eyes on the ground, and they were full of sadness. Harry couldn't help feeling sorry for Tori. The way she spoke about the marriage contract implied that she didn't want it in the first place. Suddenly, Harry found his saving people thing rise.

"Wait, Tori!" Harry called out, then Tori turned around. "Would... would you like t-to go to Professor Slughorn's Slug Club party with me?"

"What about your 'Chosen One' title?" asked Tori. "Alot of girls want you to ask them."

"I don't want to go with somebody who only wants to 'go' with me for my fame," said Harry. "I'd rather go with somebody who wants to go with me as a friend, a genuine one, that is."

"Really? You'd be willing to ask me to go to Slughorn's party with you?" asked Tori, wondering if she heard right.

"Sure," said Harry. "I would like to do anything to make you happy!"

Tori beamed at that, she was so grateful that she ran up to Harry and gave him a hug. Even though he flinched, Harry hugged Tori back.

"Thank you, Harry," said Tori. "Hopefully this will teach the ferret a lesson, a great chance to give him a taste of his own medicine!"

"Yeah," agreed Harry. "He won't see this coming!"

"Hopefully, this will also help, in some way, to render that stupid marriage contract void!" said Tori. "See ya later, Harry!"

"Alright, take care, Tori!" said Harry.

After she finished hugging Harry, Tori turned around and skipped her way back to the Slytherin common room. Harry wondered why he had never met her before. The rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin was just, _plain_ stupid. It didn't make any real sense. He began making a beeline for Gryffindor Tower with a grin on his face. Harry was relieved that he didn't have to worry about going with Romilda or, to a lesser extent, Ginny. Harry was so lost in his thoughts of attending the party with Tori as his date that he didn't realize one of his fellow Gryffindors spotted him and caught sight of the grin.

"Harry, are you okay?" asked the voice.

Harry jumped in surprise when he heard the voice, snapping him back to reality. Harry saw that it was Neville Longbottom, a portly brown-haired boy who was also a sixth year. Harry blew a sigh of relief as he took some deep breaths to relax.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Neville," assured Harry. "I was just lost in my train of thought!"

"Sorry to spook you like that." Neville apologized. Then he asked, "What got you all happy?"

"Well," Harry spoke to Neville in a whisper. "I crossed paths with a Slytherin girl named Astoria Greengrass!"

"Really?" Neville whispered back.

"Yeah, really," Harry whispered again. "I even asked her to Slughorn's Christmas party and she accepted!"

"Nice job, Harry!" Neville congratulated, patting Harry on the shoulders. "Tori is a nice girl! Even Daphne and her best friend, Tracey are nice. It's people like Malfoy who give Slytherin House the bad rap. House Greengrass and House Longbottom are two of the seven Most Ancient and Most Noble Houses, and House Potter is another one!"

"I never knew that!" said Harry, flabbergasted.

"Maybe over the Christmas holidays," Neville suggested. "You should go to Gringotts for your inheritance, since you're the head of House Potter."

"I will do that." said Harry in a determined voice. "How was I unaware of all this?"

"Well, gran told me that Dumbledore declared himself your magical guardian," Neville revealed to Harry, keeping his voice in the whisper. "She told me all about that, and how you and I were supposed to be godbrothers. Since your mother was named my godmother and my mother was named your godmother."

"So that means Dumbledore has been keeping me in the dark about all this!" Harry deduced, trying to keep his temper in check. Then he relaxed and whispered back to Neville in a grateful voice, "Thank you for all the information, Neville!"

"Anytime, Harry." said Neville.

Meanwhile, Tori made her way back to the Slytherin common room while being cautious at the same time, just in case if Draco was anywhere nearby. Tori found Daphne sitting on a couch in front of the fireplace, with Daphne sitting by her best friend, Tracey Davis. Daphne looked alot like Tori, except her blonde hair was armpit-length and she had ice-blue eyes. Tracey had shoulder-length brown hair in a ponytail and cobalt-blue eyes.

"Hey Daph," said Tori. "Can I talk to you and Tracey, privately?"

"Sure, Tori!" said Daphne.

Daphne and Tracey followed Tori into the girls dormitory, which made them curious. They followed Tori to her room and once they were inside, Tori cast a locking charm and a privacy ward on the door.

"What's up, Tori?" Daphne asked her sister.

"Harry Potter asked me to Professor Slughorn's Christmas party!" said Tori ecstatically.

"Are you serious?" said Daphne in an impressed voice, widening her eyes in surprise at the same time.

"Yes," said Tori. "I wanted to tell you and Tracey this in private, to make sure the ferret wouldn't overhear this."

"He's not gonna like this one bit!" said Tracey, giggling.

"Yeah," said Tori. "Hopefully, this will be enough to render that wretched contract void. A real opportunity to give the ferret his just rewards!"

"We'll need to help find you some dress robes," suggested Daphne. "Ones that we think Harry will like!"

"Yeah, Harry will drop his jaw in surprise once he see's them!" said Tori.

Once Daphne and Tracey left her room, Tori got out some parchment, ink and a quill to write a letter to her father. She got suspicious that Harry flinched when she gave him a hug earlier. Tori also had a hunch why Harry flinched and as much as she wanted to hope she was wrong, she knew she was right. She remembered Daphne and Tracey discussing Harry wearing hand-me-down rags on weekends or other times where school uniforms weren't required, and the rags appeared to be four or five sizes too big for him. Tori felt her eyes filling up with tears as she kept on writing her letter, with some of the tear drops dripping onto the letter. It took a little while for Tori to finish writing the letter because the tears were making it harder for her to see. Then she wiped the tears away to proofread the letter, which said:

 _Hi Daddy!_

 _How are you? Harry Potter invited me to Professor Slughorn's Christmas Party and I accepted. I hope this will be enough for Malfoy to not want that wretched marriage contract anymore. Harry even offered to help out with that. But something suspicious occurred, I gave him a hug to prove how grateful I was for his offering to help. Harry flinched, even though he hugged me back. Do you or mummy have an idea why Harry flinched? Is there also a possibility we can invite him home with us over the Christmas holidays? I found myself unable to ask Harry myself because I didn't want to possibly ruin a potential friendship with him. Hope to hear from you soon, daddy!_

 _Love,_

 _Tori_

After she finished proofreading her letter, Tori folded it up and put it back down onto her desk. Then she changed into her pajamas instead of going to the Great Hall for dinner because she lost her appetite over the whole issue of Harry flinching with physical contact. Then she laid down on her stomach on her bed, buried her face into her arms and continued crying. Why did Harry flinch with physical contact? Who was behind that? Why didn't Harry tell anybody? Tori couldn't come up with any answer to the questions that kept popping up into her mind. For the same reason, she ended up having trouble falling asleep (but somehow, she eventually did).

The next day was a Hogsmeade weekend, which gave Tori, Daphne and Tracey plenty of time to look for some dress robes that they believed Harry would like. After breakfast, Tori went to get her letter, so she could go to the owlery and send it to her father before going to Hogsmeade. Then Tori, Daphne and Tracey went to a robes shop to find some dress robes. After trying on several kinds, Tori eventually settled with a particular set that she felt would make Harry speechless. After purchasing the set of dress robes, Tori cast a shrinking charm on the bag it was in and put it into her pocket, then she, Daphne and Tracey headed over to Honeydukes Sweet Shop.

/Scene break\

The night of the Slug Club Christmas party arrived. Harry was wearing dress robes of emerald-green, the same colour as his eyes. A couple days earlier, Tori advised Harry to wait by the Great Hall (since it was on the way to Slughorn's office), just so his presence wouldn't stir up any complaints from the pure-blood supremacist Slytherins. Once Harry spotted Tori walking toward him, he indeed, felt his jaw drop open in surprise and his eyes widened in awe. Tori's dress robes were strapless, made of velvet, which were green. Tori also had her blonde hair in an elegant bun.

"Tori..." Harry responded in astonishment. "You look... look... look...!"

Harry couldn't say it, because Tori really _was_ beautiful in her dress robes. Then Harry held a hand out to Tori, who grabbed hold of it. Then they started walking, arm in arm, to the Christmas Party.

"I'm looking forward to having a great time, Harry!" said Tori.

"S-Same here," said Harry, who kept admiring Tori in her dress robes. "Especially with a pretty lady, with a pretty personality!"

Tori blushed as Harry continued escorting her to the party. They knew the night was bound to be interesting. The other guests were going to be baffled to see the Boy-Who-Lived (or the Chosen One, as some started calling him) with a Slytherin girl as his date. Harry and Tori grinned at the thought of what was bound to lie ahead.

 _To be continued!_

 **Author's note 2: Who will Hermione be going to the Slug Club Christmas Party with? Stay tuned to find out in the next chapter!**


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: As usual, I just own this fanfic, J.K. Rowling owns the Harry Potter series. No copyright intended!_

 **Author's note: At first, this story was only intended to be a one-shot, but I've decided to turn it into a multi-chapter story due to popularity. The chapters won't have names.**

 **Chapter Two**

When Harry and Tori made it to Professor Slughorn's office, he greeted them. Though, the potions teacher was surprised and impressed to see who Harry's date was.

"Ah, Mr. Potter, Miss Greengrass," said Professor Slughorn in an impressed voice. "This was unexpected! Ten points to Slytherin and ten points to Gryffindor for putting the worthless rivalry aside."

"Thank you, professor!" said Harry and Tori in unison.

They started walking toward the middle of the floor where the dancing was happening. Harry and Tori saw Neville dancing with Hermione, which made Harry realize that she was Neville's date for the party. Hermione was stunned to see that Harry's date was a Slytherin girl.

"Wow, Harry," Hermione responded, clearly impressed. "I never thought a Slytherin would be willing to be your date!"

"Yeah, that house rivalry doesn't make any sense." said Harry.

"You do look a little familiar, though." Hermione told Tori.

"Daphne is my sister," Tori clarified. "I often get told how I often look alot like her."

"I see," said Hermione in understanding. "Are you one of those Slytherins who isn't on good terms with Malfoy?"

"Yeah," stated Tori. "Daphne and her best friend, Tracey also hate him. The ferret thinks I'm his and he never backs off, no matter what I do to him. The day Harry and I met, Malfoy asked him where I was and Harry lied to him about my whereabouts, just to make sure I stayed safe."

"Why would Malfoy think you're his?" asked Hermione.

"Some contract his father drew up around the time of the Yule Ball." Tori began explaining, with contempt directed at Draco. "But the ferret went with Parkinson that night in order to throw everyone off track. Ole Luci claimed that me marrying the ferret was supposed to be a way of repaying a debt. While my dad believes it's a bluff, there's no proof to back that up."

"I'd be pretty mad myself if I was in your place," said Hermione. "I once smacked him in the face in retaliation for exaggerating his injuries sustained at the hands of Buckbeak."

"I heard about that," said Tori. "I never knew that the hippogriff was named Buckbeak."

"He's Hagrid's favourite hippogriff," stated Harry. "Malfoy was foolish enough to insult Buckbeak and consequently get scratched, but he ignores the fact that it was his fault he didn't pay attention to Hagrid's warning."

"Serves him right," said Tori. "And if he continues to give me any trouble, I'll be sure to show him in a much more violent way."

Harry, Neville, Tori and Hermione started giggling as they continued dancing. More guests were arriving for the Slug Club Christmas Party, including Dean Thomas and Ginny Weasley. Inevitably, it didn't take long before the Weasley girl found out. Dean went to get some punch for himself and Ginny, and when she spotted Harry dancing with Tori, it took everything Ginny had not to hex Tori.

'That bitch stole my Harry, and is _now_ corrupting him!' thought Ginny in pure anger and hatred, her eyelid twitching involuntarily. 'How can that Greengrass be so mean and bitchy to use the Slytherin traits to her advantage and seduce my Harry into a frickin' trap?!'

Ginny could feel tears welling up in her eyes as she continued watching Harry dancing with Tori. Neither Neville, nor Hermione seemed to be disturbed that Harry was 'in danger,' they also kept on dancing as if Harry attending with a Slytherin girl was normal. In her anger and fast-approaching heartbreak, Ginny was so distracted that she didn't realize that Dean had come back. The dark-skin sixth year Gryffindor saw Ginny watching (with pure jealousy) Harry and Tori dancing. This didn't sit well with Dean (especially when Ginny continued to ignore him), and only by clearing his throat did Ginny finally snap out of her fantasy.

"Oh, D-D-Dean, I-I-I didn't kn-know you r-returned!" Ginny responded in a sheepish tone of voice.

"We're here to have a good time, you know," Dean reminded his supposed girlfriend. "Why are you staring at Harry?"

"That snake is corrupting him!" Ginny claimed.

"No she isn't," stated Dean, when he got a good look himself. "They appear to be genuinely enjoy each others' company."

"Oh sure, _big_ disguise!" Ginny criticized in a loud enough voice, oblivious to the fact that she was attracting unwanted attention from the other guests (including Harry). "Greengrass just wants Harry for the Boy-Who-Lived, not the _real_ Harry."

The other guests were staring at Ginny in utter shock (their eyes widened at the same time). Tori sent a glare in the Weasley girl's direction while Harry rolled his eyes in exasperation. Hermione and Neville started rubbing their ears to make sure that they heard right and clear enough, they did hear right after all. Ginny was also oblivious to the fact that her remarks rendered the party quiet, and Professor Slughorn shaking his head in disgust. All of the students knew that Ginny was the one who wanted Harry for his Boy-Who-Lived fame, but the Weasley girl was too delusional to even notice. However, Dean wasn't fooled in the slightest as soon as those words escaped Ginny's mouth (since that made him realize that Ginny didn't have any genuine affections for him).

"Actually, Ginevra," Dean angrily replied, forgetting that he still had the two goblets of punch in his hands. "You're the one who wants Harry for his fame! When we started dating, I thought you would've gotten over that fangirl crush of yours on Harry, but you just proved me wrong."

"So you're just gonna take everyone else's side in this?!" Ginny shouted, outraged. "This just proves that you're just as _ignorant_ as the rest! Hermione even told me that Harry would eventually notice me!"

Hermione felt her arms and legs trembling with rage, she was even gritting her teeth in anger. This wasn't what she told Ginny months ago, she only explained that she should be herself and try going out with other boys in an attempt to get over the fangirl crush. It didn't seem like Ginny had taken Hermione's advice to heart, and the Weasley girl's outburst ended up proving it. Even though she was outraged, it was taking everything Hermione had to avoid giving Ginny a mouth full of broken teeth. Harry felt as though Ginny had betrayed his trust since she'd often tell him during his visits over at the Burrow that she had gotten over her fangirl crush, and now he realized that she lied to him. Spotting the look of betrayal on Harry's face, Tori patted his shoulders in a comforting manner. Neville did the same, which was helping Harry relax.

"I highly doubt that Hermione would encourage you to use me to make Harry jealous, Ginevra!" snapped Dean, ignoring Ginny shaking with rage at being called by her given name. "It's the fact you keep hounding Harry why he never bothers to notice you. If you know the real Harry at all, you'd realize that he wouldn't appreciate that at all."

"Didn't anybody ever tell you that it's never a good idea to try and ruin a girl's dreams?!" asked Ginny as her voice started cracking, trying to fight the tears. "I've been planning my wedding with Harry since I was five! How can anybody be selfish enough to ignore that?!"

"Yeah, right," said Dean, unconvinced. "Nobody starts planning a wedding with anybody at age five. That is utterly unrealistic! You know what, we're breaking up, Ginevra! I can't believe you turned out to be so selfish to ignore me and keep your attention on Harry!"

"Great!" Ginny shouted at Dean again. "Your lack of support was getting on my nerves anyway and you should be ashamed of yourself! I have no idea why I even tried dating you in the first place and I regret it 100%, I should've just kissed Harry on the lips in the first place when I had the chance!"

Everybody gasped in shock as they all covered their mouths with their hands, hardly believing what escaped Ginny's lips. Professor Slughorn shook his head in disgust again, finding it so outraging to hear what Ginny said. Heartbroken, Dean splashed both of the goblets of punch in Ginny's face (some of it even splattering onto her dress robes) before setting them back next to the bowls of punch and storming out of the classroom and back to Gryffindor Tower. Ginny just stood there, dumbstruck as she got the face full of the tasty beverage. Professor Slughorn walked up to the Weasley girl with a not-so-pleased look on his face. Ginny realized she was in definite trouble when she saw the look on the potions teacher's face (especially when he crossed his arms and started tapping his left foot on the ground repeatedly).

"Miss Weasley," Professor responded in a disappointed voice. "I can't believe that you would have the nerve to say those words to Mr. Thomas. That was extremely selfish of you to even express such outrageous behaviour!"

"But, professor..." Ginny tried responding.

"No buts, Miss Weasley," said Professor Slughorn sternly. "That's thirty points from Gryffindor and I'll be speaking to Professor McGonagall about this! Your privileges in the Slug Club are hereby _revoked_ , have I made myself clear?"

"Yes, professor." said Ginny.

"Good, now I must ask you to leave immediately!" stated Professor Slughorn, pointing to the classroom door. Ginny nodded her head, then she left the classroom with her eyes on the ground.

"It's all that stupid Astoria's fault!" Ginny falsely concluded as she continued walking, refusing to take responsibility for her actions. "If she hadn't seduced my Harry, none of this would've happened! Everyone knows that Harry and I are meant for each other, I keep trying to show him, but everybody compels him to ignore me!"

Ginny found an empty classroom and walked inside, slamming the door shut behind her. She was already in tears by this point and began stamping her feet on the ground while throwing a tantrum. This proved to be an unwise decision because she was still wearing stilettos and stamping the ground while wearing them caused her to bend her ankle inward.

"OWW!" Ginny squealed in pain, grasping her now-injured ankle.

Now angry in pain, Ginny took her stilettos off and carelessly flung them away in such a violent manner. This resulted in the high heels having been hurled toward a window, breaking it and resulting in them falling outside and onto the snow-covered ground. Ginny continued grasping her injured ankle as tears continued flowing from her eyes. Unfortunately for her, the breaking window triggered an alarm spell that alerted a teacher to a window breaking and the classroom it came from. Professors McGonagall and Sprout were the closest teachers, so they made a beeline for the classroom. The teachers arrived and opened the door to find a still-crying Ginny grasping her ankle.

"Well, Miss Weasley," said Professor McGonagall, pointing to the hole in the window. "How do you explain the window in the condition it's in?!"

"I didn't do it on purpose," Ginny tried defending herself, giving her head of house direct eye contact. "I was mad and didn't think straight, resulting in me throwing my stilettos out the window."

"Clearly your anger was your doing, Miss Weasley," said Professor McGonagall sternly, folding her arms across her chest. "I just received word from Professor Slughorn about your behaviour at the Slug Club Christmas Party. What have you got to say for yourself?"

"If that Astoria hadn't tricked my Harry away, things would've gone smoother!" Ginny snapped at her head of house (which, inevitably wasn't the right thing to do). "She was using the traits of Slytherin to seduce Harry and force him to continue ignoring me!"

"That'll be enough, Miss Weasley!" said Professor McGonagall in an agitated tone of voice. "That'll be thirty more points from Gryffindor for snapping at a teacher, followed by three weeks of detention after the Christmas Holidays are over, and your Hogsmeade privileges being revoked for the duration of your detentions. Understood?"

"Yes, professor." said Ginny.

"Good," said Professor McGonagall. "I _will_ be writing to your parents to inform them of your behaviour, too. Now, summon your stilettos back, then repair the window and return to your common room!"

Ginny reluctantly nodded her head before doing as instructed. Despite what all happened, Ginny still refused to believe (let alone accept) the fact that Harry would never be interested in her, thus remaining on living in false hope. Once she made it back to Gryffindor Tower and over to her four corner poster in the fifth year girls' dormitory, Ginny spelled her curtains shut and added privacy wards around it before throwing another hissy fit over Harry 'ignoring' her.

"It's not _fair_!" Ginny pouted, punching her pillow repeatedly. "It's just no fair! Harry is mine, and mine only! Everybody needs to either agree with me or take a hike. I'm right, period!"

Meanwhile back at the Christmas Party, Harry was escorting Tori over to a table, then he pulled a chair out for her to sit in like a gentleman (with Neville doing the same for Hermione). Despite Ginny's irrational behaviour, the four teens refused to let that prevent them from having a good time. Harry and Neville went to get themselves and their respective dates some punch.

"You okay, Harry?" asked Neville with concern in his voice, making sure Harry was fine.

"Yeah, I'm alright, Neville," assured Harry. "I just gotta hope that Dean doesn't blame me for this. He might be that upset since he did throw his and Ginevra's punch in her face."

"I don't think he will," stated Neville. "Since he did try to let Ginny know that she needs to accept reality and move on with her life. One thing that _is_ certain is that she'll be losing all her chances for potential boyfriends in this school."

"No doubt there," Harry agreed. "Since all the other guests witnessed Ginevra's outbursts and we all know how fast news travels throughout the castle."

Once Harry and Neville got the punch for themselves and their respective dates, they returned to the table where Tori and Hermione were waiting. Even after they sat across from their respective dates, Harry and Neville found themselves having trouble trying not to look at them because they could feel their faces radiating heat as they blushed. Tori and Hermione began giggling when they witnessed Harry and Neville blushing. Professor Slughorn witnessed that and shook his head in a playful manner, impressed with the four for refusing to let Ginny's behaviour ruin their night.

'I wonder if Tori may be the right one for me?!' thought Harry ecstatically.

'Maybe Hermione and I are meant to be?!' thought Neville, equally ecstatic. 'I remember she offered to help me look for Trevor on the train before our very first day here.'

 _To be continued!_


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer: As mentioned before, I just own this fanfic. J.K. Rowling owns the rest of the Harry Potter world, no copyright intended!_

 **Chapter Three**

After finishing their dinner and punch, Harry and Neville got up and showed their respective dates back out onto the dance floor. Some minutes later, Filch came in while dragging a familiar-looking blonde-haired boy behind him by the ear. It turned out to be Draco, much to Tori's dismay. She got a little bit more tense when he saw that Harry had taken 'his girl' away from him, which made the blonde-haired Slytherin forget what he was really up to.

'How dare Potter take my girl!' thought Draco bitterly, shooting both (Harry especially) a nasty glare. 'First chance I get, I'll teach Astoria a lesson not to defy me!'

"What may I do for you, Argus?" asked Professor Slughorn.

"This boy here was caught wandering the corridors," Filch explained. "Then he claimed that he'd been invited to your party."

"I don't recall ever inviting Mr. Malfoy here," said Professor Slughorn in a matter-of-fact voice. "However, since it's nearing the Christmas Holidays, I can let him have fun."

'Ha!' thought Draco triumphantly. 'Now I can teach Potter a lesson for coming here with my girl! Astoria belongs to me and me _only_! Potter should just go back to the Weasley girl, everyone knows that they're both…'

"I'll deal with Mr. Malfoy, Horace," said Professor Snape as soon as he showed up, snapping the Malfoy scion out of his thoughts. "I need to have a talk with him anyway!"

Draco showed Harry and Tori his gritting teeth with pure rage as he was being led away by the defence teacher. Tori gulped nervously and felt her arms and legs trembling with fear, resulting in Harry leading her back to her seat, with Neville doing the same for Hermione.

"That look he gave me," Tori stated in an anxious voice. "I know that very look means that he'll do anything to me first opportunity!"

"Do you ever stand up to him?" asked Hermione.

"Yeah," stated Tori. "But ferret boy never learns. He invariably ignores the fact that I've never been interested in him and never will be. Even with his father in Azkaban, he won't stop until he finally has his hands on me in the form of a marriage."

"You'll still try to teach him a lesson, right," asked Hermione. "If he does anything to you?"

"Definitely," Tori assured. "I'm not a prize to be won, and I know he'll just treat me as such! I can think for myself, but the ferret just blindly looks up to his father."

"Shall we get back to having fun?" Harry and Neville asked in unison. "It'd help keep us distracted from the bad things, right?"

"Oh, yeah!" said Tori sheepishly. "Sorry, got carried away."

So the four continued with dancing to help keep their minds off the bad moments. All too soon, the party came to an end and it was time for the students to return to their respective common rooms. Harry escorted Tori over to outside the corridor leading to the stairs descending into Slytherin territory (with Neville and Hermione accompanying them). Before walking down the corridor, Tori gave Harry a gentle kiss on his cheek to show how much she enjoyed her time with him. After getting permission, Harry also gave Tori a gentle kiss on her cheek, which resulted in both of them blushing. Once Tori was no longer in sight, Harry, Neville and Hermione began heading back to Gryffindor Tower. The three spotted Ron talking with a still-heartbroken Dean while sitting in front of the fireplace. As soon as Harry, Neville and Hermione entered the common room, Ron and Dean looked up at them.

"Sorry about Ginny's behaviour!" Ron apologized to Harry and Hermione. "Dean had just finished telling me the whole story. Mum and dad used to tell her stories about you coming to her rescue and live happily ever after. Ginny would even play 'marry the Boy-Who-Lived' when she was five, which made her believe that her dream would eventually come true. There were times I'd clean up the living room and sometimes I'd find notes that Ginny would write and leave lying around about being the future 'Ginevra Molly Potter,' and it was… I can't even describe it because it should've been embarrassing for her!"

"It's not your fault, Ron," assured Harry. "Ginevra more than likely has been lying about getting over that silly crush, just to get people off her back. Her outbursts towards Dean earlier proved that."

"I _did_ try to give her some advice to help her get over it and move on," stated Hermione. "But she proved me wrong, and now I'm regretting ever trying. I can't believe she would use Dean to get Harry to notice her! It's like Ginevra doesn't care about other guys' feelings at all."

"And it hurts!" Dean sobbed, his brown eyes full of tears.

"Even Professor Slughorn was appalled by Ginevra's behaviour," Hermione told Dean. "The guests closer were talking about Slughorn docking thirty points and revoking her privileges in the Slug Club. If it hasn't happened yet, Professor McGonagall will be mad at her for it and likely give her detentions. I also think that Ginevra's parents will be punishing her themselves when they get word."

"Ginevra's outbursts are likely going to be the most discussed topic for months to come at least." Neville started telling Dean. "Seeing how fast news travels throughout the castle, she won't be getting anymore boyfriends here."

"That reminds me," said Harry. "Once I get the chance to confront her myself, I'll also inform her that she'll be kicked off the team. That attitude of her's at the party was utterly despicable and worst of all, she even lied to me a countless number of times about getting over that crush. She won't be getting back on the team again."

"Who'll be taking Ginny's place on the team?" asked Ron.

"I don't know yet," said Harry. "But quidditch doesn't resume until after the holidays, so I have some time to think it over."

Meanwhile in the Slytherin girls' dormitory, Tori had just finished showering and getting into her pajamas. Just before she could climb into bed, a knock was heard at her bedroom door. Upon looking through the peephole, Tori blew a sigh of relief when she saw that it was Daphne, so she opened the door to see what her big sister needed.

"I went the owlery earlier, while you were getting ready for the party," Daphne informed Tori, handing her an envelope. "Our family owl had a letter tied to his legs and it's for you."

"Thanks, Daph!" said Tori gratefully as she politely took the envelope out of her sister's hand.

As soon as Daphne left to go back to her room, Tori closed the door and went to lay down on her bed on her stomach. Then she opened the envelope, which turned out to be a letter from her father. Then she started reading the letter, which said:

 _Hi Tori,_

 _I'm doing good, your mother and I just want the Christmas Holidays to get here so we can see you and Daphne. That's also wonderful that Harry invited you to Horace's party. I had to talk with Narcissa in regards to that marriage contract and she's also been trying to find evidence about it being a debt repayment, something that Lucius forbade her to do. Now that he's in Azkaban, she won't have to worry about Lucius retaliating. Now onto your suspicions as to why Harry flinched when you gave him a hug, your mother and I were discussing it and we have an intuition that he was abused by his guardians. I'm also glad that you resisted the temptation to ask him any questions he may be very sensitive to. Your mother and I are also discussing the possibility of having Harry at the manor for the holidays, but from what I found out at lunchtime at the ministry, Harry usually goes to the Weasleys, something Arthur clarified with me. He did assure me that he'd speak with Molly about the whole thing. Since the holidays start on Monday, that'll give us a couple days to think it over. But do ask Harry sometime tomorrow because I think Arthur and Molly will be okay with Harry spending the holidays with us. Plus, they'll be attending the Christmas formal at Delacour Manor, so Harry will still see the Weasleys some._

 _Love,_

 _Dad_

Tori felt her heart beating with excitement and a smile forming on her face when she found out that there was a good chance would spend the holidays with her and her family. The part of her mother and father having that intuition that Harry was abused ended up making Tori's stomach twist and cramp painfully. This was enough to make her head for the loo and throw up, hardly believing that Harry had been suffering from such treatment for the longest time. Tori also found herself unable to get to sleep easily because she couldn't stop thinking about it, and it made her want to just hug Harry again as a way of letting him know he was in safe hands.

/Scene break\

The next morning, Harry got up to get some clean clothes and take a shower. Dean spent the night on the couch in the common room, since he was still too heartbroken to even sleep in the dormitory. He figured that none of his roommates wanted to hear him sniffing and gasping, thus he was trying to show some consideration. When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Ginny, giving him the nastiest glare she could.

"Why?!" asked Dean coolly.

"You know damn well why, you prick!" snapped Ginny. "Because of you and that _stupid_ Astoria, my night last night turned to utter shit! You had the nerve to turn against me when clearly you should've supported your girlfriend regardless! I demand an apology from you this instant!"

"No!" said Dean defiantly. "You don't deserve one, now be gone with you!"

Ginny's light-brown eyes flashed with anger before raising a hand and smacking Dean across the face. This resulted in the delusional Weasley girl receiving several stinging hexes not just from Hermione, but also from Katie Bell (a brown-haired seventh year with blue eyes) and Demelza Robins (a fifth year with reddish-brown hair and hazel eyes). In fact, Harry also witnessed Ginny smacking Dean across the face.

"Alright, Ginevra," Harry growled. "How do you explain this still-outrageous behaviour of yours?!"

"I was just waiting for you, Harry." Ginny tried sweet-talking him, while walking toward him in an erotic manner, and a flashy grin forming on her face. "I was also thinking that we could…"

"No tricks, Ginevra!" snapped Harry. "Everybody knows what you did last night!"

"And trying to use me to get closer to Harry?" Hermione scowled at Ginny. "That ain't something friends do, you selfish bitch!"

Ginny angrily tried charging at Hermione, who quickly jumped out of the way. When Ginny tried to pull on Hermione's hair, she smacked the Weasley girl in the face. Ginny just stood, dumbstruck on the spot in utter disbelief. Nobody had ever smacked her before, let alone across the face. Ginny could feel tears welling up as her cheek continued stinging from where Hermione had slapped her, which also earned the Weasley girl some jeers.

"How could you just slap me?!" Ginny wailed.

"SHUT UP, JUST SHUT UP, GINEVRA!" Harry yelled in Ginny's face, making her cower.

"Better listen to Harry, Ginny." Ron warned his sister as soon as he showed up in the common room.

"Thanks, Ron!" said Harry gratefully. Then he turned his attention back to Ginny. "You should be ashamed of yourself for what you did last night! Your behaviour was utterly inexcusable, you just revealed yourself to be insensitive to other peoples' feelings and all for what? To get me to notice you, date you and eventually marry you? If five years of not noticing you in that way isn't a wake-up call, then what is?"

"You know Harry would never be interested in you, Ginevra," said Katie in a firm voice. "So stop living in that stupid fantasy of yours and move on, it ain't that hard!"

"And another thing, Ginevra," said Harry, pointing a finger in her face. "You've just lost your position on the quidditch team and you will _never_ be reinstated as long as I'm the captain, that is. I doubt any new captain will let you back on, though!"

Ginny felt more tears welling up when she realized that she couldn't be on the team anymore. Nevertheless, she refused to believe that Harry was serious about the 'never dating her' part. She whipped her wand out and pointed it at Hermione to curse her with the Bag-Bogey hex, only for Hermione to cast the disarming spell and Katie to use the summoning charm on Ginny's wand.

"I'll hold onto this until you learn to settle down!" Katie told Ginny in a mocking tone of voice. "We can't have little girls like you use a wand in an incorrect way!"

Katie walked back up the stairs to the girls' dormitory to hide Ginny's wand. Ginny tried to run after her to get her wand back, only to find herself with Hermione and Demelza pointing their wands at the delusional Weasley girl.

"Don't… even… think about it!" Demelza warned Ginny in a dangerous voice.

Meanwhile in the Slytherin girls' dormitory, Tori had just gotten up to get dressed. She was still somewhat tired because of all the questions about Harry's outside-of-school life that kept popping up in her mind. She was so distracted with the questions that she forgot to be aware of her surroundings, especially when she entered the common room. That was when she felt somebody smack her across the face, bringing her back to reality. Tori gasped when she saw that it was Draco, and he was furious with her (Tori could see that look in his eyes).

"What made you think it was alright to go to Slughorn's party with Potter?" Draco demanded.

"That's none of your business!" Tori snapped. This got her smacked in the face again.

"You don't talk to your future husband that way!" Draco growled as ferociously as he could, restraining her to make sure she couldn't escape. "Don't you remember that marriage contract?"

"No, I don't!" Tori snapped, ignoring the stinging pain from her cheek. "I'm not a trophy wife and I don't wanna be!"

"You ain't got a choice!" Draco reminded Tori in a harsh voice. "If father says you're a prize to be won, then by golly, you're a prize to be won, get my drift?"

"Perhaps," Tori claimed. "But there's one other person who doesn't agree with that."

"And who might that be?!" asked Draco with a sneer.

Instead of saying that Harry would never agree to the whole trophy wife thing (even though it was true), Tori kicked the Malfoy scion in the groin. This forced Draco into letting Tori go to put his hands in front of his bits and kneel over (with his eyes squeezed shut tightly). Seizing her chance, Tori quickly left the Slytherin common room and over to the Great Hall for breakfast. Then Draco put his hands on the floor, which wasn't smart because at that moment, Daphne stepped on the fingers on his left hand while Tracey did the same to the fingers on Draco's right hand, making him wince in pain and shake his hands in a violent manner.

"Whoops, sorry! Guess we should've paid attention to what we were stepping on!" said Daphne and Tracey in unison, sounding anything but.

The two also left to catch up with Tori. The fingers on Draco's hands were still in pain, forcing himself to go to the boy's bathroom so he could douse his fingers in cold water to relieve some of the pain. As he continued soaking his fingers in the water, Draco began thinking of a plan (one he believed was failproof) to get Harry away from Tori. While it may not be able to happen right away, it still gave Draco plenty of time to plan and go over it. The Malfoy scion would have no idea that his plans were going to backfire big time.

 _To be continued!_


	4. Chapter 4

_Disclaimer: As usual, all I own is this fanfic. J.K. Rowling owns the rest of the Harry Potter universe, no copyright intended!_

 **Chapter Four**

After breakfast, Harry left the Great Hall to wander the corridors and ponder his thoughts. He tried looking for Tori sitting at the Slytherin table, but only saw her sister, Daphne and her best friend, Tracey. From what he observed, they had concerned looks on their faces for some reason. Somewhere within a second floor corridor was when Harry noticed the sound of someone crying, so he followed it to see where it would lead him. Harry saw the unmistakable blonde hair belonging to Tori and she had her knees brought up to her chest, her arms resting on them and her face buried into her arms. Harry had a shocked look on his face, feeling his heart breaking. He never could stand the sight of any girl in tears, even if they were trying to hide it.

"Tori?!" Harry responded with concern.

Lifting her head up, she saw Harry and tearfully responded with, "Oh, hey Harry! Ferret boy did it again, confronted me as he called it, just because I went to Slughorn's party with you! He even smacked me in the face, twice!"

"So that was why you weren't in the Great Hall for breakfast?" asked Harry.

"Yeah," said Tori tearfully. "He also would've made me sit next to him and not allow me to refuse. Having anticipated that, I avoided going to the Great Hall altogether."

"It's bad enough that he antagonizes you," stated Harry, trying to keep his anger in check. "But to hear of him smacking you in the face twice? A real man doesn't do that! Since Malfoy had the nerve to hit a lady, he's not even close to being considered a man."

"Too bad he won't see it that way," said Tori with contempt directed at the Malfoy scion. "He'll just insist that that behaviour is acceptable."

"Want me to leave, so you can…?" Harry began asking, thinking Tori needed some alone time.

"No, Harry, I want you to keep me company," said Tori, wiping tears from her bright-green eyes. "I need it to keep myself distracted from ferret boy's behaviour."

Harry nodded his head and sat down next to Tori. As soon as he did so, Tori gave him a big hug. Harry was confused by that as he had no idea why, but nevertheless, he returned the favour and hugged Tori back. As much as she wanted to do so, Tori couldn't bring herself to convince Harry to tell her about his life outside of Hogwarts. She remembered her father mentioning that he was glad she didn't. She opened her mouth to ask Harry if he wanted to come to her family manor over the Christmas holidays, but then she and Harry noticed that they had visitors. Daphne and Tracey were standing close by with grins on their faces (with Daphne also holding a couple pieces of toast wrapped up inside of a napkin in one hand).

"Daph! Trace!" Tori blurted out, her's and Harry's faces turning bright-red, to the point where they stopped hugging each other. "N-Nothing happened!"

"There's nothing wrong with that, Tori," Daphne assured her sister. "You and Harry hugging each other! It looked as though you two were in your own world."

"How long have you and Tracey been watching that?" asked Tori.

"About five minutes," stated Daphne. "We couldn't bring ourselves to interrupt the moment, so we just waited until you noticed."

Harry and Tori nodded their heads to show that they understood. Daphne and Tracey even took turns telling Harry and Tori about pretending to accidentally step on Draco's fingers and how he ran back into the Slytherin boys' dormitories to douse them in cold water. Harry and Tori were laughing in hysterics (with Tori rolling around on the floor while grasping her sides). Once they finished laughing, Daphne handed her sister the couple pieces of toast, with Tori happily taking and eating them. Back in the Slytherin common room, Draco had his fists clenched tight as he punched some couch cushions like a child throwing a tantrum. Draco's fellow housemates, Pansy and Theo (or Nott) were trying to help calm him down with little success.

"I can't believe Astoria would defy me, yet again," Draco ranted. "She was supposed to sit by me at breakfast and she never showed up! Because of her foolishness, I'll be having bruises on my fingers for months to come. Potter will pay dearly for corrupting her!"

"How do you plan to rectify that?" asked Theo.

"No idea," said Draco with contempt directed at Harry. "But if I have to take Potter out first, then so be it! He's been a pain in the arse since our second meeting, all because he made friends with filthy blood-traitors, mudbloods and part-squibs, like Longbottom the fat oaf! Potter wouldn't have been in the mess he's gonna eventually find himself in if he'd just shake my hand instead of associating himself with Weaselbee!"

"And having the hots for that nasty Ginevra, too?!" Pansy growled, her tongue sticking out in disgust at the thought of Harry and Ginny snogging each other's faces off. "As bad as Potter has been, that Ginevra is much worse. If there was no other option, then I'd rather spend a day with him than one second with that bitch of a Weasley girl!"

"What if she's been corrupting Potter into doing the same to Astoria?" asked Theo jokingly.

"I highly doubt that one," said Draco irritably. "Since the Weasley girl keeps going on and on about becoming the future Mrs. Potter quite regularly! Honestly, somebody should just club her upside the head to get her to shut the hell up permanently!"

"I'd be happy to deal with that!" stated Pansy enthusiastically.

"No, we must deal with Potter first, and Astoria next," said Draco. "Then the Weasley girl will be after."

Pansy and Theo nodded their heads obediently, then they went over to Draco's room to go over any possible plans. Meanwhile, the girls' dormitories in Gryffindor Tower happened to be in a huge state of chaos. That was because Ginny kept rummaging through the seventh year girls' dorm looking for her wand, since she knew Katie was the one who took her wand and hid it. The Weasley girl skipped breakfast to be able to do so, ignoring the fact that it was a futile attempt. Ginny didn't even have a care that she was just tossing stuff towards the middle of the room in a careless manner and leaving it in such a clutter that the ground was almost buried.

"What do you think you're doing, Ginevra?!" shouted three angry voices simultaneously.

This made Ginny stop what she was doing and faced the door. She saw Hermione, Katie and Demelza standing in front of the open door giving her nasty glares. Ginny just shrugged her shoulders as if the situation wasn't a big deal, only to receive some stinging hexes from the angry girls. Then the Weasley girl found herself pulled up onto her feet and forced against a nearby wall by Hermione, Katie and Demelza.

"You've got _two_ seconds to explain why you were in here, Ginevra!" Katie growled.

"To get my wand, you stupid bint!" snapped Ginny.

"Well guess what?!" said Hermione with a sneer. "It was hidden in a place where you can't get to it."

"Where?" Ginny demanded.

"That's for me to know and for you to not find out until you settle down!" said Katie defiantly.

"It's like what you were told earlier," Demelza reminded the Weasley girl. "We can't have little girls using wands in an improper manner."

"I'm not a little girl!" Ginny whined.

"But you're acting like one!" snapped Hermione.

"Exactly," said Katie in a fierce voice directed at Ginny, also pointing a finger in her face. "And you throwing mine and the rest of my fellow roommates' stuff all around the dorm is clearly proving that!"

"Now you'd better start cleaning up this mess or we'll take you straight to McGonagall," Hermione warned Ginny in a stern voice, pointing to the mess with a finger. "And I tell you, she'll be even _more_ furious with you!"

"Uh uh!" Ginny responded while shaking her head in a defiant manner. "It ain't mine, so you clean it up!"

"Then we take you to McGonagall," stated Demelza. "You were warned."

Then she, Hermione and Katie began dragging Ginny with them to escort her to their head of house. Then Ginny began screaming like a toddler throwing a tantrum (for the umpteenth time) and even trying to struggle to free herself. This resulted in Ginny getting more stinging hexes, but that didn't stop her from managing to hold onto the door to the seventh year girls' dormitory. Unfortunately, the door slammed hard on Ginny's fingers.

"OWWIEEE!" Ginny cried out as she shook her fingers while wincing.

"On second thought, I have a better idea for you, you selfish bitch!" Hermione snapped at Ginny. "Instead of going to McGonagall, we're going into the lavatory."

Katie and Demelza grinned at Hermione's idea, clearly showing interest in what she had in mind. Ginny tried resisting again when she saw that Hermione was leading them over to one of the overhead shower nozzles. It wasn't very useful since the pain in Ginny's fingers hadn't receded, which would've made it difficult for her to keep a firm grip on a rail or something. Hermione turned one of them on and set it to the cool temperature, then she, Katie and Demelza shoved the angry Weasley girl into the spray. Ginny complained about the water being cold and tried getting up to leave, only to find Hermione, Katie and Demelza pointing their wands at her.

"You're gonna stay under the spray until you settle down!" Demelza told Ginny in a firm voice.

Ginny started groaning inwardly as she knew she couldn't try to leave without the risk of getting any more stinging hexes. It didn't take long before Katie's fellow roommates returned to the dorm and saw the ruckus Ginny created while looking for her wand. They were so furious that they started searching for the culprit. Once Katie informed them what had happened, she led her angry roommates over to the shower nozzle where Ginny was. The angry seventh year Gryffindor girls began berating Ginny for her childish behaviour. Once they all felt satisfied with Ginny's cold shower, the angry girls showed Ginny back to the seventh year dormitory and made her clean up the mess. They didn't even let Ginny change into dry clothes, considering that as part of their punishment for her. Ginny had little choice but to comply, much to her discomfort (mainly brought on by the fact that she was still in wet clothes). Concurrently, Harry and Tori were wandering around on the seventh floor. Since most students tended to avoid it, it gave Harry and Tori the peace and quiet they were looking for.

"Harry, would you like to spend the holidays at my family manor?" Tori asked him.

"Really?" asked Harry, wondering if he heard right.

"Yeah, really!" Tori assured him with a smile.

"I'd love to," said Harry. "But since I usually go to the Weasleys house, the Burrow, I should talk it over with them first."

"My dad assured that he and my mum will take care of that," said Tori. "He wrote to me and mentioned it himself. I wrote to daddy the week before Slughorn's Christmas party and asked him about having you come to our manor."

"Sure, I'd love to," said Harry, beaming at the revelation. "Seeing what it's like inside of a manor will be something new for me."

"But at least it will help you out in staying away from that Ginevra." stated Tori.

"Yeah, that's true," said Harry. "I won't have to worry about that very look she keeps giving me."

"The Christmas holidays will also be the chance for you to go to Gringotts for your inheritance," said Tori. "I'm not sure if you were told yet, so I thought I'd let you know right now."

"Neville already informed me, but thanks anyway, Tori." said Harry gratefully. "Dumbledore has been keeping me too much from me already, and now I'm slowly losing trust in him."

"One of the reasons mummy and daddy never trusted or stopped trusting him at some point," stated Tori. "The other one being how he goes off spouting that we should give second chances. Dumbledore doesn't seem to realize that some people don't deserve second chances. So we're simply neutral, since we'd never join You-Know-Who nor his cause."

"The whole second chances does seem to be costly at times," said Harry. "It even cost my godfather, Sirius Black his life. That deranged cousin of his struck him with some unknown curse, moments before the ministry realized that Voldemort had indeed returned, during the Department of Mysteries fiasco."

Tori flinched when the name was spoken, but that didn't stop her from giving Harry another hug. Feeling how warm and gentle Tori's hugs were, Harry found himself hugging her back. Something in the back of his mind was trying to tell him that Tori could the right one for him, but Harry couldn't bring himself to let Tori know. He didn't want to possibly cause another jinx and risk endangering Tori's life because of his foolishness (which was certainly not the case). Either way, Harry decided to wait a little while to see where it would take him. Maybe when he felt that no other jinx could happen, he could let Tori know of his developing feelings for her.

 _To be continued!_


	5. Chapter 5

_Disclaimer: As usual, I only own this fanfic. J.K. Rowling owns the rest, no copyright intended!_

 **Chapter Five**

Neville and Hermione were taking a walk outside. The bushy-haired female needed to cool down before Ginny's behaviour made her blow her top. Hermione felt that taking a walk was a good idea, and with Neville accompanying her, she cooled down easier and faster. Despite the weather being chilly, the two Gryffindors managed to stay warm by casting some warming charms on each other. They were so distracted by their walk that they forgot that they were walking toward a slope on a hill. Then they slipped and slid halfway down the hill (since it was starting to snow), with Neville sliding on his back and Hermione on her front. At the halfway mark, they stopped sliding and ended up right next to each other, both laying in their respective spots for a minute while they started giggling. Neville put his hands on the ground to pull himself up into a sitting position, until he realized that his left hand was touching something very different from the grass-covered ground. Looking down, Neville widened his eyes when he realized that his hand had touched Hermione's bum.

"Wah!" Neville exclaimed, quickly pulling his hand away from Hermione's bottom.

Neville looked at the ground and made sure both hands were on the ground as he hoisted himself into a sitting position. Hermione also widened her eyes when she felt Neville's hand touch her bum, resulting in her losing some sensation in her limbs as her heart began beating. Once the feeling in her limbs returned to normal, Hermione pushed herself up and readjusted herself into a sitting position, her face red. Even Neville's face was red because of what had happened.

"I'm sorry, Hermione!" Neville apologized, his voice in a higher pitch. "I d-didn't mean to t-touch you… th-therrrreeeee!"

"It's alright, Neville," Hermione assured in a soft voice. "Accidents happen."

"You don't seem to be upset about it." said Neville.

"I didn't mind, Neville," stated Hermione. "For some reason, it felt good. If Malfoy or anyone else who I don't trust or don't know did that, I'd give them a mouth full of teeth."

Neville nodded his head to show he understood. Then he got up, lowered a hand for Hermione (who grabbed it), pulled her up onto her feet and continued down the hill to keep themselves distracted. However, it seemed like fate had more plans in mind for Neville and Hermione. Not long after they continued the descent down the hill, Neville and Hermione slipped again and this time, they rolled the rest of the way down. Neville made it to the bottom of the hill and landed on his back. Seconds later, Hermione rolled on top of him.

"Oof!" Neville grunted as he felt the impact.

Both Gryffindors were a little dizzy from rolling the rest of the way down the hill. Once they came to, Neville and Hermione widened their eyes when they realized they were laying on top of each other. As Hermione tried to get off of Neville, she kept putting her hands on his torso by mistake and on one of the occasions, she unwittingly touched his leg. Neville widened his eyes again as he felt the adrenaline flowing because of what happened. Once Hermione finally got herself off of Neville, he pulled himself up and onto his feet. Hermione covered her mouth with both of her hands as her face turned bright-red because of having accidentally touched Neville's leg.

"I'm so sorry, Neville!" Hermione apologized, her voice in a high-pitch tone. "I-I have no i-idea what came over m-me!"

"No need to apologize, Hermione," Neville responded, his face turning bright-red. "I-It felt rather good!"

He and Hermione were giggling so much that they felt as though their ribs could get bruised because of trying to hold it in. Once they had calmed down enough, Neville lowered a hand and pulled Hermione up onto her feet. As they continued their walk, Neville and Hermione felt their legs trembling from time to time, since they had trouble keeping themselves distracted from what happened when they slid down the hill. Concurrently, Harry and Tori were wandering the corridors inside the castle. It had been peaceful for them until trouble occurred. Harry and Tori were in a corridor on the fourth floor when they crossed paths with Pansy.

"Alright, Astoria," Pansy started demanding, ignoring Harry's glare. "It's time for you to follow me back to the Slytherin common room. Draco needs to remind you that you need to be prepared to be the next Lady Malfoy. You need to be standing by his side at all times, get my drift?!"

"If ferret boy wants me to know, he should tell me about it himself!" snapped Tori.

"Do I need to drag you there myself?" Pansy asked Tori in a scolding manner, like a mother trying to teach her child a lesson. "It's bad manners to ignore your future husband and to continue avoiding him. What have you got to say for yourself, young lady?!"

Harry raised an eyebrow at Pansy, finding it hard to believe she was trying to act like Tori's mother. Tori responded by giving Pansy the middle finger, which didn't impress her. When Pansy began marching toward her, Tori whipped her wand out and cast some kind of charm Harry didn't recognize. Pansy stopped suddenly as she felt her insides tickling like crazy (particularly around her stomach). She tried to put her hands on her stomach, but that just seemed to aggravate the tickly feeling. Pansy widened her eyes in embarrassment when she felt her clitoris getting the same feeling.

"Ooh! Ya ha ha ha haaaaaaa!" Pansy squealed as her legs and feet began kicking out like crazy while rolling around on the ground in hysterics. "Oooooooooh ha ha ha ha, ooooh la la!"

The arrogant Slytherin was making so much noise that she was attracting unwanted attention from passing students (two of who included Daphne and Tracey). There was alot of laughing and pointing because of the 'show' Pansy was putting on. It wasn't long before Pansy felt her body gushing fluid and soaking her knickers and trousers, forcing her to cover the area with her hands. After another five minutes, Tori cancelled the charm, feeling Pansy had enough. She was down on all fours while breathing exhaustily and keeping her eyes on the ground. Too embarrassed to get up and walk because of all the laughing, Pansy started crawling her way back to the Slytherin common room.

"What kind of spell was that, Tori?" asked Harry.

"A kind of tickle charm," said Tori while smirking. "One that tickles the inside of one's body."

"No wonder Parkinson kept kneeling forward or rolling around on the ground." Harry responded in an amused voice.

"Hopefully she'll think twice before trying to do something to me on ferret boy's behalf!" said Tori with contempt directed at Draco.

Then she giggled, which the sound of gave Harry flip flops in his stomach. He even began laughing himself, given the way Pansy was reacting to the charm made it harder for him and Tori to suppress their laughter. Meanwhile in the Slytherin common room, Draco kept pacing back to the entrance and the Slytherin boys' rooms entrance repeatedly. Pansy was late in returning with Tori in tow. Draco spotted Millicent Bulstrode (a bulky, brown-haired sixth year girl) walking out of the entrance leading to the girls' rooms, then he marched toward her.

"Alright, Bulstrode!" Draco began ordering, pointing to the common room entrance. "Go out and look for Astoria and tell her to get back here! It's her damn job to prepare to be the next Lady Malfoy and if she refuses and continues to associate with that bloody half-blood dickhead who is Potter, there's gonna be hell for her to pay!"

"You're associating with one right now!" Millicent retorted, giving the Malfoy scion a nasty glare. "Since I'm a half-blood, you were also insulting me in a way by referring to Harry as a bloody half-blood."

"Th-th-thatssssss different!" Draco claimed, trying to conceal his collywobbles. "Potter likes hanging out with other filth like blood traitors, mudbloods…"

 _POW!_

Millicent punched Draco in the nose with such force that it was bent to his right, with warm blood dripping. Draco squeezed his eyes shut tightly as quite a bit of stars danced in his vision. The punch happened at such a speed that the Malfoy scion barely saw it coming. In fact, Draco quickly passed out because of the pain being too intense before falling backwards onto the back of a nearby couch and over it. Then the back of his head hit the carpet rug before Millicent brushed her hands in an 'all-done' manner and then leaving the common room. She spotted Pansy crawling her back towards the entrance just as she walked out.

"What's up with you, Parkinson?" Millicent asked her arrogant housemate.

"Astoria, she used some tickle charm on me," Pansy responded in an angry tone of voice. "And it gave me an orgasm in front of about ten to fifteen students."

"Either that or you may have had trouble keeping your sexual fantasies with Draco in check!" Millicent replied in an amused voice, with a smirk on her face.

Pansy's eyes flashed with anger, then she got up onto her feet to clobber the bulky girl before her. That turned out to be a mistake because Millicent saw Pansy's trousers still soaked with the milky-white fluid down to the knees. Pansy immediately tried concealing it, even though Millicent saw it.

"I knew it!" Millicent exclaimed. "I knew you had trouble with your sexual fantasies with Draco staying in check!"

She quickly ran off to inform other students of what happened. Pansy's cheeks turned red in embarrassment and her face felt heat radiating. When she got back in the common room, she spotted Draco upside down on the couch, still out-cold. Pansy returned to her room and changed into some clean knickers and trousers before approaching Draco's out-cold body. His nose was still bent toward the right side of his face, with parts of the front on his shirt soaked with blood. Pansy managed to straighten Draco's nose despite more blood dripping. She conjured a handkerchief and held it to Draco's nose until he regained consciousness. Then Pansy helped in escorting Draco (who took over pinching his bleeding nose shut) over to the hospital wing. By that time, lunchtime was close to arriving, so the student body started reporting to the Great Hall. Harry had a different idea, since he was holding Tori's hand and leading her somewhere where they wouldn't be bothered by certain people.

"Harry, where are we going?" asked Tori in confusion. "This corridor leads to the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room."

"The school kitchens close by," stated Harry. "One of the house-elves I know works there and he'd happily get us our lunch."

Tori nodded her head to prove that she understood. They came across a portrait with a bowl of fruit on it. Harry tickled a pear on the portrait, which giggled somehow and turned into a green handle. Harry pulled it open to reveal the entrance into the kitchens. There turned out to be another student there, a girl with dirty-blonde hair at armpit-length, pale-white skin, a necklace made up of butterbeer corks and earrings made from radishes. Harry knew that the girl was Luna Lovegood, even if her back was turned toward him and Tori. Luna was talking to one of the house-elves who Harry recognized as Winky (who once belonged to the Crouch family, until she was freed from their servitude shortly after the Quidditch World Cup fiasco two years ago).

"Hi, Luna!" Harry greeted.

"Hello, Harry!" Luna greeted back as soon as she turned around and smiled. "Did you come here to chat with the house elves?"

"That's part of it," stated Harry. "But also because Tori and I don't want certain people to bother us. How did you find the kitchens?"

"Fred and George told me about it the year before last," Luna explained. "After the first Triwizard Tournament task, I was skipping through the corridors and I saw them and their friend heading back to where the Gryffindor common room was located with all kinds of snacks and drinks to celebrate you passing. One of the twins even explained on how to get in here and since then, I often come here, since I've been getting along with the house-elves better than I do with most of the other students."

"That I can understand, since most students see me as either the Boy-Who-Lived or The Chosen One." said Harry, contempt directed at the majority of the student body. Then he asked in a friendlier voice, "Have you met Tori before?"

"Only a few times," stated Luna. "In those rare occasions where my fellow Ravenclaw Eagles share classes with Slytherin."

The entrance opened up again and in stepped Neville and Hermione. They were still quite giggly and red on their faces, something neither Harry, Tori nor Luna could figure out. Most of the house-elves eyed Hermione suspiciously, since they remembered her SPEW organization from a couple years ago. Neville and Hermione found seats close by Harry, Tori and Luna, and sat down.

"What happened?" Harry asked Neville and Hermione. "How come you're all giggly with red faces?"

Neville and Hermione took turns telling their story of what happened when they were walking outside. In return, Harry and Tori took turns telling the story of Tori casting the tickling charm on Pansy. All five of the students were laughing like crazy, with the girls rolling around on the floor in hysterics while Harry and Neville kept falling off of their respective chairs sideways. Back in the Great Hall, Daphne and Tracey were darting their eyes around trying to find Tori. When they also hadn't had any luck finding Harry, the two Slytherin girls eased up and blew sighs of relief.

"It seems like Harry and Tori wanted to eat lunch somewhere quieter." Tracey deduced.

"Yeah, but I do wonder where it may be," said Daphne. "But as long as neither ferret boy nor pug girl find out, I won't worry about it too much. I can always ask Tori later."

Tracey nodded her head in agreement, then she and Daphne started digging in. It wasn't much longer before Draco and Pansy came in after the Malfoy scion's unplanned trip to the hospital wing to get his broken nose treated, and when they saw that Tori skipped lunch (unaware that she was eating elsewhere), Draco felt his arms and legs trembling with pure anger and rage. His hunger temporarily overpowered his desire to track Tori down to 'confront' her for refusing to practice her apparent upcoming role as the next Lady Malfoy. As he ate his lunch, Draco vowed to himself that he'd confront Tori in the Slytherin common room, once they were back in there at the same time.

 _To be continued!_

 **Author's note: Since some of you have requested a potential girlfriend for Dean Thomas, I'm going to set up a poll vote on my profile page. Whichever girl gets the most votes will eventually become Dean's girlfriend. The results won't be displayed until the polls close. Happy reading!**


	6. Chapter 6

_Disclaimer: As usual, all I own is this fanfic. J.K. Rowling owns the rest, no copyright intended!_

 **Author's note 1: As many of you know by now, Demelza won the poll on getting to be Dean's eventual girlfriend.**

 **Chapter Six**

Lunchtime eventually came to an end and everyone in the Great Hall left to get back to preparing for the Christmas holidays. Dean wandered the corridors aimlessly, trying to clear his head, but the feeling of a broken heart still lingered. In another attempt to clear his head, Dean headed out into the courtyard and sat down on a nearby bench. Luckily the courtyard had warming charms placed, since the winter cold would've otherwise forced him back inside. Dean's head was downcast and also staring at the grass, to the point where he was lost in his thoughts. He didn't realize that somebody had spotted and walked up to him.

"There's no point in staying downhearted, Dean," a familiar voice told him. "The Christmas holidays are just around the corner. Why don't you just try to enjoy the spirit of Christmas?"

Dean looked up and saw Demelza standing in front of him. Then he responded with, "I would try, but the feeling of heartbreak won't go away."

"May I sit down?" Demelza asked. Dean nodded his head as if to say yes, then he scooted over to allow Demelza to sit down next to him. Then she continued, "I know how you feel right now, but the longer you stay in the state you're in, you'll just end up feeling more and more miserable. Ginevra is too delusional to ever accept what's fantasy and what's reality. She just wants Harry for his Boy-Who-Lived fame and she'll just continue to live that way, no matter how many times someone tries to persuade her into moving on and accepting that Harry will never be interested in her that way. My mum and dad have taught me that no matter how difficult things can get, there's a silver lining to it."

"Are you serious?" asked Dean, feeling his spirits started to rise.

"Trust me, Dean! Even in your situation, there will be a silver lining!" stated Demelza in an encouraging voice.

She reached out, grabbed ahold of Dean's hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. Dean felt a smile forming on his face as he felt the warmth flowing. Maybe Demelza was showing an interest in him, but Dean remembered to take it easy. He knew it wasn't a good idea to try forming another relationship when he had just broken up with Ginny. Dean also knew that Demelza was being truthful, remembering when Ginny had dated Michael Corner last year. Despite the breakup being fairly recent at the time, Ginny still 'formed a relationship' with him, which proved that she liked toying with other peoples' affections and using them as a pawn. In fact, Ginny never even showed any emotion when she broke up with Michael, further proving that she enjoyed using someone, just to get the attention of the Boy-Who-Lived. Dean also knew that Demelza was being truthful about the silver lining.

"Thank you for that, Demelza," said Dean in a grateful tone of voice. "I really needed that!"

"You're welcome, Dean!" Demelza responded as she smiled. "You can talk to me if you feel down again."

Dean nodded his head in acknowledgement, then Demelza got up and left, believing Dean still needed time to himself. Meanwhile, Harry, Tori, Neville and Hermione had just left the school kitchens while Luna decided to stay longer. The four were wandering the corridors when they spotted Pansy walking up to them, more specifically, Tori.

"Draco expects you to be back in the Slytherin common room, Astoria," Pansy informed her. "You can't continue to avoid him."

"Maybe not, but he can't make me be within his vicinity," Tori retorted. "If he's gonna be too cowardly and not tell me in person, I won't return to him."

"See what happens when you associate with morons like Potter and his kind?" Pansy replied in an irritable voice, ignoring the glares coming from the four students before her. "Draco is a knight in shining armour, you must see him as one."

"You wish!" Tori retorted. "Seeing that you're the one fawning over him, why don't you just try to get together with him?"

"He continues to insist that he's taken by you," said Pansy. "So what's the point in trying anymore?"

"If you want ferret boy, go for it!" said Tori in an irritable and hasty voice. "I don't care, I never wanted to be with him in the first place, so Malfoy's all yours if you want him."

"You're the one who continues fawning over Malfoy, like Tori said," Harry reminded Pansy. "You've been at it pretty much since first year. They say that if you want something bad enough, you have to work for it."

Strangely, Pansy stood there with her eyes widened, all dumbstruck. As much as she knew that Harry was telling the truth, she would never openly acknowledge it. As she watched Harry, Tori, Neville and Hermione walking away, Pansy began forming a smile on her face.

'Wow, I never thought Potter would give me some helpful advice!' thought Pansy, as her smile stretched further. 'But, I'll show Astoria how much she's missing out by turning Draco down countless times. She'd better mark my words, Astoria will realize that she turned down something good for the last time.'

With her determination having resulted in her decision being final, Pansy began heading back to the Slytherin common room. At the same time, Pansy's heart was beating faster than usual, but whether it was the anticipation of Draco reacting negatively or pure excitement Pansy couldn't narrow down. It took Pansy approximately ten to fifteen minutes to reach the entrance leading to the Slytherin common room. After giving the password for the entrance to open up, Pansy stepped into the common room and spotted Draco sitting on a dark-green vinyl armchair, with a nearby couch taken by Theo, Crabbe and Goyle.

"Well, where is she?" Draco asked Pansy in a no-nonsense tone of voice.

"She escaped, overpowered me." Pansy asserted.

"Then why did you come back here by yourself?!" Draco demanded, getting up out of the chair and getting his face in Pansy's. "I thought I made it clear to you _not_ to return here without Astoria accompanying you!"

"Well, she never wanted to be with yooouuuuuuu!" Pansy responded, trying to conceal her collywobbles. "I also thought I-I could express my feelings for you and try to convince you to call off trying to win Astoria's heart, since you wouldn't want to waste any more time."

 _SMACK!_

Pansy felt one of Draco's hands smacking her across the face with such a speed that she didn't see it coming. The force of the smack sent her spinning around before falling forward onto her stomach. Pansy put one of her hands over part of her cheek where she got slapped, since it was still in stinging pain. She forced herself to get back onto her feet and look at Draco, who looked so enraged that very few would want to be within five feet of him, resulting in Pansy widening her eyes in utter fear. Even the Malfoy scion's arms and legs were trembling with pure rage.

"I THOUGHT I MADE IT CLEAR TO YOU THAT ASTORIA IS SUPPOSED TO END UP WITH ME!" Draco screamed in Pansy's terror-stricken face. "HOW MANY TIMES MUST I KEEP REMINDING YOU ESPECIALLY NOT TO FLIRT WITH ME IN ANY WAY? ASTORIA WILL BE MINE IF IT'S THE LAST _DAMN_ THING I EVER DO! FATHER EVEN MADE THAT CLEAR TO ME AND THAT'S THE WAY THINGS WILL WORK AROUND HERE! UNDERSTOOD?"

"Wh-What will happen if I try keeping at it?" asked Pansy nervously, trying her best to fight the tears.

Draco smacked Pansy across the face in the same spot as a demonstration, causing her to spin around and fall to the ground again. Her cheek stung even more and it made Pansy squeeze her eyes shut as she winced. It even made it more difficult for her to fight the tears. Draco was even more hot-tempered, his gritting teeth making it very clear.

"NEVER ASK ME THAT STUPID QUESTION AGAIN!" Draco screamed again. "AS A MATTER OF FACT, THIS IS THE FINAL STRAW! NO GUY EVER WANTS TO GO WITH SOMEBODY AS UNATTRACTIVE AS YOU, I TAUGHT YOU TO ABIDE BY THAT RULE! SEEING THAT YOU'RE SO THICK-HEADED, LOOKS, STATUS AND WEALTH ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS! YOU DON'T ACCEPT PEOPLE FILLING YOUR HEAD WITH ALL THAT 'PERSONALITY MATTERS MORE' BULLSHIT, AND ASTORIA NEEDS TO REMEMBER THAT, NOT HANG OUT WITH THE LIKES OF POTTER, LONGBOTTOM AND THAT MUDBLOOD, GRANGER! YOU'RE NOW A DISGRACE TO THE PRINCIPLES OF SLYTHERIN HOUSE SINCE YOU'VE ALLOWED YOURSELF TO BE CORRUPTED BY IDIOTS LIKE POTTER! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'RE EVEN IN THE HOUSE OF SNAKES, SO NOW IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO LEAVE!"

Pansy felt her arms and legs losing some sensation, and her stomach doing flip-flops in fear. Her frightened state was justified when she felt two whacks to her rear-end with a belt, in which the force was as hard as it could be. She knew Draco was the one who gave her spankings with the belt, since he always carried one as a warning to anybody who tried to defy what he believed were the principles of Slytherin. It was hard for Pansy to keep the pain concealed, that was how much it hurt. Then two seventh year Slytherin girls (who were also pure-blood fanatics) picked Pansy up by the arms and began dragging her out of the Slytherin common room. Once that was done, they walked back in as Draco praised them. Then he looked down at Pansy with a glare.

"Don't ever show your face anywhere in snake territory again, Parkinson!" warned Draco in a dangerous voice. "Daphne and Davis would've been kicked out long ago, if it weren't for Astoria requesting that either they stay or she leaves with them. Now get lost and never come back here."

Draco turned around to return to the common room, making sure to ensure that the entrance refused Pansy access. She got up and started leaving Slytherin territory, at the same time she was rubbing her bottom because it still hurt from the whacks she got from Draco's belt.

'So Astoria, Daphne and Tracey were right all along!' thought Pansy downheartedly, with realization. 'They kept trying to inform many of our fellow female housemates that Draco had no problems attacking _any_ lady who openly opposed him, but I ignored that and now I've found that out the hard way. How could I have been so stupid?!'

Luckily she didn't cross paths with anybody, as anyone else who saw her in her current state would've added more to her misery. Quickly, Pansy found a door leading to an abandoned classroom located on the second floor, then she pulled her wand out to cast some privacy wards and locking charms on the door. Then she sat down at a nearby desk, put her head down into her arms and pretty much lost it. Pansy couldn't hold it in any longer and just started crying heavily. All the guilt of having joined in on Draco's bullying in first year and the feeling of deep remorse made her have an epiphany. The memories of her doing all the taunting and bullying of some of the Slytherins, all of the Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws, and especially the Gryffindors (particularly Harry and his friends) just made her even more upset.

Concurrently, Harry, Tori, Neville and Hermione were in the prefects bathroom. Since Hermione was still one of the Gryffindor prefects, she granted Harry, Tori and Neville temporary permission to enter. Knowing the bathtub was the size of a swimming pool, they wanted to have some fun playing around in the warm, perfumed water, since the outside temperature was colder than earlier. The falling snow made it more evident. The four teens occupying the prefects bathroom went into changing rooms to change into swimwear (since it wouldn't make the whole ordeal awkward). Harry and Neville were both wearing red swim shorts. Tori and Hermione stepped out of their respective changing rooms. Tori was in a green and silver striped bikini, while Hermione's bikini was red with black polka-dots.

"Shall we go ahead and walk into the tub?" Harry and Neville asked Tori and Hermione.

"Yes," said Tori and Hermione in unison, then they motioned with their hands. "But you need to test the water for us to make sure it's safe to swim in."

Harry and Neville turned around and saw some steam rising from the water. They walked toward the steps leading down into the swimming-pool-sized tub and put the tips of their fingers in for a few seconds. The water was just at the right temperature, but Tori and Hermione (both who were smirking behind Harry and Neville's backs) were pretending not to have any of that.

"You gotta do better than that!" Tori and Hermione spoke in unison.

Harry and Neville pulled their fingers out of the water and started putting their feet in the water, slowly descending into the water. They had no idea that it was a trick until they felt Tori and Hermione pushing them further into the water. Harry and Neville fell forward into the water before they turned around and saw Tori and Hermione giggling. Harry and Neville gave the girls a 'what was that for' kind of look, but Tori and Hermione continued giggling. Then Harry and Neville began splashing some water onto Tori and Hermione, resulting in them mock whining. Then the girls started marching into the water and practically tackled the boys before getting into some kind of splash war. But they were all giggling and having a good time, as it was helping them stay distracted from schoolwork (since Harry, Hermione and Neville were in their sixth year where NEWT preparation exams took place, and Tori being in her fifth year, where OWL exams occurred). By the time they were done with their splash war, the stone floor around the outside of the tub was wet.

"What a great way to release all that stress!" Harry responded as he was catching his breath.

"You couldn't have said that _any_ better, Harry," Neville agreed. "We all needed this kind of activity."

"Plus, we all had fun," stated Tori. "That's what's really important."

"It felt like alot of weight had been lifted off of my shoulders," said Hermione. "And it felt really good, too."

So they swam closer to the edge of the huge tub, where there were sitting spots. The four teens knew they needed to rest up a bit before leaving. Tori began wrapping her arms around Harry's waist, with Hermione doing the same for Neville. Harry also found himself running his fingers through Tori's hair, and Neville doing the same for Hermione. Since the four teens were lost in their own worlds, they had no idea how long they had been in the prefects bathroom. But dinner time was still at least a couple hours away, so Harry, Neville, Tori and Hermione still had some time to themselves.

 _To be continued!_

 **Author's note 2: I'd like to give a big shoutout to 'Aurora Nightstar' for helping in giving me the idea of Pansy actually trying to make the effort in hitting on Draco due to Millicent's comments about Pansy having sexual fantasies with Draco, with a little convincing from Harry and Tori.**


	7. Chapter 7

_Disclaimer: As usual, all I own is this fanfic. Everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling, no copyright intended!_

 **Chapter Seven**

Back in the Slytherin common room, Draco was sitting on an overstuffed armchair. Hardly anybody dared to invade his personal space due to how much anger he had inside because of Pansy's 'treachery' and because Tori (in his opinion) filled her head with those awful ideas. One of the girls who helped drag Pansy outside the common room started to slowly approach Draco. The Malfoy scion looked up and saw her approaching him. The girl's name was Darcie Clarke, a seventh year who was a pure-blood fanatic. She had pale-blonde hair (the same colour as Draco's) with green highlights, and hazel-coloured eyes. She was wearing a silver blouse with the top two buttons unbuttoned, a black mini skirt, green eyeshadow, green lipstick and gray converse sneakers.

"Are you alright, Draco?" Darcie asked him, her voice sounding genuinely concerned.

"I would be if Astoria wouldn't be so stupid to keep rejecting me," Draco complained. "And yet she even gave Parkinson that stupid idea that she could flirt with me in spite of being forbidden to do so."

"Parkinson knew better than to do that," said Darcie. "And Astoria can't ignore you forever. She's just making the situation worse every time she does."

"She'll need to learn one way or the other," Draco professed. "Potter is corrupting her the same way he did to Parkinson."

"Anything I can do?" asked Darcie.

"The next time you see Astoria," Draco began instructing. "Force her to come back here, since Parkinson failed to do that for the last time. Use the full-body bind if you have to and make sure you won't allow her to say no. I'll be waiting in my room, since Astoria is begging for me to teach her a much harsher lesson. And don't let anybody see you trying to drag Astoria over to my room once you make it back with her, I can't afford to have my plan to teach her a lesson ruined."

Darcie nodded her head obediently as Draco grinned. Just then, Theo entered the common room from the Slytherin boys' rooms. Draco saw Theo and beckoned Darcie over, then he began whispering something into one of her ears. Whatever it was Theo had no idea what Draco had in mind until Darcie looked over at the brown-haired boy. The arrogant Slytherin girl began walking toward Theo in an erotic manner while smirking.

"Why don't you have a seat on the couch, Theo!" Darcie told him in an encouraging voice. "Draco wants to encourage you to prepare for the day you get a girlfriend and I'm gonna help you out, too."

Widening his eyes in utter surprise, Theo nodded his head and went to sit on the couch in front of the fireplace. Once he was there, Darcie walked over and stopped in front of him. Then she started unbuttoning her blouse starting from the top and as soon as the last button was unbuttoned, she pulled it open to reveal a black bra and a falt tummy before taking the shirt off and tossing it toward Draco (who caught it while smirking). Darcie began fondling her breasts, making Theo widen his eyes again.

"Oooooh!" Theo responded enthusiastically as his heart started beating faster.

"Now for the second part of the preparation." Darcie informed him.

Theo watched as she took her shoes and socks off, tossing them aside. Then Darcie put her left foot on a nearby footstool and slowly rubbing her leg up and down while grinning at Theo. When Darcie began slowly pulling her skirt down to reveal a pair of black panties, Theo began breathing heavily as he felt his body reacting. After tossing her skirt aside, Darcie walked toward Theo and started giving him a lap dance. Theo even gave Darcie's arse a few pats, making her giggle some before continuing the lap dance. What none of the three realized was that somebody was watching the whole thing. Daphne and Tracey had been watching some of it before turning around to return to Daphne's room.

"Clarke is such a slut!" said Tracey irritably. "There's a more appropriate place for that in the form of bedrooms. Doing all that in the common room is too risky, since Professor Slughorn could check on us any time."

"You couldn't have said that any better, Trace," said Daphne matter-of-factly. "Clarke certainly has no respect for herself. If she puts one finger on Tori, Clarke will wish she wasn't born. Since dinner time is pretty close, that'll be the right time to alert Tori what Malfoy, Clarke and Nott are planning to do to her."

"Yeah, Tori might be doing something with Harry, and perhaps Neville and Hermione are joining them," Tracey deduced. "Since they were also absent at lunch."

"Wherever they may be, it must be out of the way, where most of our fellow students are least likely to go," said Daphne. "So searching for them is bound to be a futile attempt."

She and Tracey continued on towards Daphne's room. Back in the prefects' bathroom, Harry, Neville, Tori and Hermione finished their perfumed bath. Harry and Neville were carrying Tori and Hermione respectively, bridal style, out of the pool-sized bathtub as the water was draining. Then they all went into different changing rooms to change back into casual everyday wear. Once they were done, the four left the prefects' bathroom and went to wander the corridors before dinner time. All too soon, dinner time finally arrived and students began filing into the Great Hall. Tori decided to join Harry, Neville and Hermione at the Gryffindor table. They also spotted Dean sitting across from Demelza and opted to join them, too.

"Hey Dean!" greeted Harry, Neville, Tori and Hermione simultaneously.

"Hey y'all!" Dean greeted back. "Demelza surprised me by sitting across from me."

"I felt that he needed something to give him hope," Demelza explained. "After what _she_ did to him last night at Slughorn's Christmas Party. Most of the students continue to talk about it."

"That's wonderful, Demelza!" Harry, Neville, Tori and Hermione praised her.

"Ginevra hasn't been seen since this morning," Dean informed. "Probably because of that cold shower I heard she had to endure. But good riddance to her, since she's also lost us some house points."

"What about Ron?" asked Harry and Hermione at the same time.

"You know, I don't think neither he nor Lavender have been seen since this morning, too," stated Dean in surprise. "The three of them were absent at lunchtime without any leads as to why."

Daphne and Tracey finally entered the Great Hall and when they spotted Tori sitting with Harry, Neville, Hermione, Dean and Demelza, they walked to Tori.

"Tori," Daphne warned her sister as soon as she and Tracey were close enough. "Be careful when you return to the Slytherin common room. Malfoy, Clarke and Nott are planning something that they assumed was to 'teach you a lesson' for avoiding Malfoy."

"Yeah, they never said exactly what it is they plan to do," Tracey informed Tori. "Daph and I don't want to think about what it may be. Malfoy did instruct Clarke to force you to report to him, even if it meant you being put in the body-bind curse to ensure that their plan would succeed."

Tori widened her eyes at the revelation, her arms and legs trembling with fear. Daphne and Tracey also joined and properly introduced themselves to Hermione, Dean and Demelza (they already knew Neville because of the occasional gatherings for the Most Ancient and Most Noble houses, and having properly met Harry shortly after breakfast). Draco, Darcie and Theo entered the Great Hall a minute or so later. Upon spotting Tori sitting at the Gryffindor table, Draco felt his arms and legs trembling in a jealous rage because she was (once again) sitting by Harry. Seeing that most of the teachers were already up at the staff table, Draco and his minions had little choice but to go to their house table.

'Once she's back in the Slytherin common room,' thought Draco with determination. 'Astoria will be sorry to continue ignoring me. Since those smacks to the face haven't been enough, now she needs a much more violent means of learning a lesson.'

Meanwhile, Luna was skipping her way down to the school kitchens. Along the way, she spotted a girl sitting on the stone floor, with her face buried in her arms and her knees brought up to her chest. Judging by the gasps and sobbing, Luna could tell the girl was upset. However, this didn't stop Luna from carefully approaching the distraught girl before her, feeling that she needed some help. The girl didn't seem to realize that she was getting a visitor due to being too upset.

"Excuse me, are you okay?!" Luna asked the girl with concern. The girl lifted her head up, making Luna realize that the girl was Pansy Parkinson.

"No!" Pansy sobbed, her eyes all red because of the tears. "I-I ju-ust had… had… an e-epi-iphany! It hap-p-pened as so-oo-oon as…!"

"What happened that caused you to be in the state you're in?" asked Luna in an encouraging voice, sitting down next to Pansy.

"Well, I was foolish to think Malfoy was my knight in shining armour," Pansy started explaining as she wiped tears away from her eyes, trying her best to calm down enough to talk properly. "Daphne, Astoria and Tracey kept warning me and my fellow Slytherin girls that Malfoy had no qualms about attacking a lady who opposed his views on pure-blood supremacy. I kept ignoring it and I paid the price when I tried to flirt with Malfoy when Astoria told me I could go for him for all she cared."

"Are you serious? Malfoy really attacked you?" asked Luna, putting a hand over her mouth as her eyes widened in a mixture of shock and outrage.

"Yeah!" Pansy replied, trying her best not to continue crying. "There were some occasions where I heard Daphne and Tracey complain about Malfoy smacking Astoria in the face who-knows-how-many-times, but I assumed it was all an exaggeration, partly because of a lack of proof. When I tried flirting with Malfoy, he retaliated my smacking me in the face twice, then he whacked my rear with a belt twice before I was dumped outside the Slytherin common room. Malfoy even warned me never to return to Slytherin territory."

"I'm sorry to hear that!" said Luna in a sincere tone of voice.

"Don't be," said Pansy, still clearly upset. "I deserved it for my treatment towards Potter and his friends especially. It seemed like what just happened may have been karma kicking my arse."

"But this moment can be the right time for you to make a fresh start," said Luna matter-of-factly. "Apologizing to Harry and his friends is a good example. I remember being taught that when you admit that you're wrong, people will respect you more. The right people that is. You might even befriend Harry, Hermione, Neville or anybody if you prove that you can be a good friend. I was even taught that while being myself may not get me many friends, I'm alright with that because being yourself will get you the right friends."

"How could I have been stupid into thinking Malfoy and his kind were the right people?" asked Pansy with guilt in her voice.

"We all make mistakes from time to time," assured Luna in a soft, friendly voice. "It shows that we're human. What happened to you earlier is in the past, it doesn't matter anymore."

"It still hurts, though," Pansy replied, her voice cracking with emotion. "Having been part of Malfoy's clan for several long years."

"I understand," said Luna sincerely. "The past can sometimes hurt. There's always a silver lining. You can either run from your past and not get anywhere, or you can learn from it and start taking steps in becoming a better you."

"Thank you, Luna," said Pansy gratefully. "I really needed that. It's impressive that in spite of some of the students calling you by that nickname and bullying you for your beliefs, you're still the kind and forgiving girl who refuses to hold grudges and just shrug the whole thing off like it's no big deal."

"Holding grudges will just make you more bitter and cruel," Luna explained. "Since that proves that you don't want to move on. Being kind and forgiving means you want to put it all behind you and start fresh."

"That is true," Pansy admitted. "Something Malfoy claims is a load of balderdash. Since I'm no longer around him, it's time for me to find some real friends who'll be a good influence."

"If you need one, I'll be one." Luna offered.

"Really?!" asked Pansy, shocked at the revelation.

Luna made it more clear by giving Pansy a hug. Pansy felt tears welling up and hugged Luna back. This was certainly something Pansy realized she needed, as she hadn't had something like that in a long time. Pansy sniffled before breaking down again.

"Are you okay, Pansy?!" asked Luna with worry.

"Yeah!" Pansy cried. "I just haven't been given something like that for a long time, another reason why I foolishly fell into the wrong crowd. My parents have been dead since I was eight and I've been pretty much on my own since. From that time until starting Hogwarts, I've lived at an orphanage, where I was treated like an outcast. After my first year, I refused to return to that orphanage, instead opting to reside within Diagon Alley. The day before my first year ended, I came across one of the school's house elves and he told me about a place in Diagon Alley where magical kids who don't have parents reside in white tents that look bigger on the inside. So I went to check it out and it had three house elves looking after the place. The house elves even welcomed me in and provided me with one of the tents."

Luna also felt tears welling up in her eyes as Pansy finished her story. Luna gave her another hug, with Pansy returning it. Then Luna stood up, lowered a hand for Pansy to grasp, and pulled her up onto her feet.

"Why don't you come with me to the school kitchens, Pansy?!" Luna offered. "We won't be bothered by anybody there and I've made friends with the house elves working there."

"Thank you again, Luna!" Pansy replied in a grateful tone of voice. Then it turned into a worried one. "What will I say to Professor Slughorn after dinner? He _will_ be collecting the names of my fellow Slytherin students who'll be staying here for the Christmas holidays. He'll even ask me why I can't return to Slytherin territory and it'll be made clear that Malfoy is a woman abuser once I explain the story to him."

"Let's eat dinner first, Pansy," Luna advised. "Then we'll worry about Malfoy's hitting you and other girls afterwards. It'll even give us some time to think about what we can say, since I'll help you every step of the way."

Pansy nodded her head in acknowledgement and followed Luna. As they reached a particular corridor, Pansy checked all around to see some of it in yellow and black, which told her they were pretty close to the Hufflepuff common room. She and Luna reached a portrait that had a bowl of fruit on it. Luna tickled the pear, which giggled and revealed a handle. Luna pulled the handle to open the passageway while standing by to let Pansy in first. Once they were in the kitchens, Luna closed the secret door once she and Pansy were in. Pansy had an amazed look on her face when she saw how friendly the house elves were, especially when Luna showed them kindness and politeness as she asked them to make herself and Pansy some dinner. As the two started eating, Pansy also began planning on how she would apologize to Harry, Hermione and Neville for her animosity with them. She also started planning on facing Daphne, Tracey and Tori to admit her mistakes and apologize to them, too. While it wouldn't be easy, Pansy knew that it was the right thing to do.

 _To be continued!_


End file.
